Maddest Kind of Love
by Veronica The Mischievous
Summary: What if Ace was saved? What if he was forced to go into hiding? What if he had to take a whole new identity in order to do this?
1. Prologue

**Title:** Maddest Kind Of Love  
><strong>Rating:<strong> PG-13 (for language)  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> 1451  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> None (in this chapter)  
><strong>Topic:<strong> none  
><strong>Type:<strong> OPU (before time skip)  
><strong>Genre:<strong> General, some slight humor  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> I don't own anything from One Piece.  
><strong>VTM:<strong>Mainly a 'what if' kind of story. What if Ace was saved? What if he was forced to go into hiding? What if he had to take a whole new identity in order to do this? No pairings in this chapter, but this will eventually have some Ace x Luffy (sorry folks, favorite pairing, deal with it), Marco x Ace, and more in this story. But those aspects will be in later chapters, and for those who know my style, you can be sure shenanigans will ensue. I will give a fair warnings beforehand though. Quick thank you the Stini and Clare for all their help. Now with all of that out of the show.

-o-o-

Law was standing out on the deck of his ship, he was leaning against the rail as he smoked a cigarette. He couldn't really smell the fresh ocean air or the smoke. Instead all he could smell was the blood that stained his hands and clothes from the surgeries he had been performing. It wasn't an unfamiliar scent, it was one he was rather used to given his two professions. However, this was one of those times that he was rather sick of it. That Strawhat kid was proving to be more trouble than he was worth.

One of the Heart Pirates was running over to the resting doctor. "Captain!"

"What do you want?" Law asked with a sigh. "Did one of the patients do something stupid and had their wounds open again?" Just why did he volunteer to do this again? Oh yeah, because he must have been high off of his ass without realizing it.

"Sir, there's a strange ship that has been following us." The crewman began to explain.

Law canted his head to the side. "And you didn't blow it to hell because...?"

The crewman looked a little flustered. "W-well, we didn't know if it was really following us until it got closer."

"And again, you didn't blow it to hell because...?" Law's voice was laced with sarcasm. Though, part of him was growing a little curious on the subject of who would be following them.

Suddenly there was another voice calling out to Law. "Captain! There's a small ship with Redhair's flag!"

At this point Law was a wee bit annoyed. "Cannons! Doesn't anyone know how to fucking use them!"

"Sir, what do you want to do?" the crewman asked.

Law gave an annoyed sigh. "Oh I don't know, how about we invite them up for tea and cookies?"

"But you ate all the cookies..."

"It was a joke!" Law clapped a hand to his face and shook his head. He then made his way to the other side of the ship as he muttered a rather colorful assortment of words. When he reached the rail he looked down at a small sailing ship that bared the flag of the Red Haired Pirates. "What the hell do you want?"

Standing on the deck of the small ship was Shank's first mate, Benn Beckman and Lucky Roux. Law noticed that the bigger of the two was carrying something wrapped in a bloody white sheet over his shoulder. He was starting to grow a little interested. "And just what warrants this 'friendly visit'?"

"Captain has a little 'favor' to 'ask' of you." Benn called out as he looked up at the man on the yellow submarine.

Right then a spot on the sheet suddenly caught fire.

"Uh oh!" Lucky Roux quickly patted at the fire trying to put it out. "Damn it!"

Law quirked an eyebrow. That was something you don't see every day. Part of him wanted to turn them away, but now his curiosity was starting to eat at him. "Okay, I'm probably going to regret asking this...but what the hell is that thing?"

"Let us aboard and we'll tell you." Benn said as he crossed his arms, he watched Law expectantly.

Law's eyes narrowed suspiciously, he had a feeling that this could lead to more trouble. "It's not worth it, just go away." he then turned around and headed off.

Roux looked at been, he seemed to be getting worried. "We might not have that long Benn..." He said as motioned to the sheet covered cargo hanging over his shoulder.

Benn sighed and looked back up to the yellow submarine, he was about to call out to Law but then something caught his eye. A bear-a big, white bear that was dressed in a orange jumpsuit. "Hey, you!"

"Huh?" The bear stopped and looked down at them. "What do you guys want?"

"We're guests of your captain, he forgot to let down a latter." Benn explained, he had a feeling that this bear was not the sharpest tack in the drawer.

The bear gave a blink and canted his head to the side. "I'm not supposed to let strangers on board."

At that point Benn got an idea, he then mustered up a more friendly tone. "Hi there, I'm Benn Beckman and this is Lucky Roux. What's your name?"

"My name's Bepo!"

"Well then Bepo..." Benn said with a small smirk. "I guess that means we're not strangers anymore, does it? Mind letting us on board?"

"Sure!" Bepo said excitedly, he then let down a rope latter.

It didn't take long for Law to notice what the bear was doing. "No! Bepo! No!"

Soon Benn, Roux, Law, and his crew stood on the deck of the submarine.

"You have a lot of nerve" Law began as he glared at the two. "I don't care if you are one of the four emperor's crew or not, I don't take kindly to uninvited guests on my ship."

"Not like I care." Benn then got right to the point. "We have something that you might be interested in."

Law quirked an eyebrow. "You trick my men-"

"Sorry..." Bepo said as he sulked in the background.

Law gave a sigh. "It's okay, Bepo, I'm not mad at you, just the old fart and the Blubbery Wonder over there."

Right then Lucky Roux reached for his gun, but Benn suddenly stopped him.

"No, Lucky, we need him alive." The first mate then turned his attention to Law. "Look kid, if you want us off your ship that badly, then just look at what we brought and hear us out."

Law's eyes narrowed as an un-amused look spread across his face. "We could just kill you."

Benn smirked he then nodded to his ever faithful rifle that he had slung over his shoulder. "I'd like to see you try."

Law was quiet for a moment as he thought his options over. He could fight with them, but then again did he really want to do that? Even if he did manage to kill them then he'd have a whole new world of troubles to worry about. "Might as well humor you, for now. Let's see what you have for me."

"Let's take this to somewhere a little more private first." Benn added.

"Fair enough." Law motioned his crew to go back to what they were doing. After the crowed started to break up he then led Benn and Roux bellow deck and into his now clean operating room. "So, just what is this all about?"

Lucky Roux set the bloody sheet covered object onto the table. "This." the fat man said bluntly.

Law moved over to the table and removed some of the sheet. "Wait, this is..."

On the table was none other than Portgas D. Ace, at first glance he was nothing more than a corpse, being deathly pale. However, Law then noticed something rather odd. "Embers?"

In some of the deeper cuts on Ace's body there seemed to be embers that were glowing ever so faintly. Law removed the sheet even more and saw even the gaping hole was trying to heal, there were even the slightest hints of shallow breathing. It was also obvious that there have been attempts to take care of the boy's wounds.

"Kind of shoddy work, don't you think?" Law said with a slight smirk. His interests were more than peaked at this point. "Who did this? An amateur?"

Benn sighed, he was getting a little tired of this guy's attitude. "Well it's not like we have an actual surgeon, smartass."

"I see, so Red Hair sent you to me? Why?" Law asked. He was a little amused at this point. He could feel his ego get a minor boost from the thought.

"For one, you're currently taking care of his 'little brother', right?" Benn asked. "Captain wants both Luffy and Ace to be in good hands, and if you were capable enough to handle Luffy's wounds, perhaps you can do something for Ace."

"That's a pretty tall order."

"Honestly, I don't know what the captain is thinking." Benn said with a slight shrug. "Personally I was thinking that he was drunk."

Law gave a frown. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing..." Benn said as he looked away from Law. It was an unspoken challenge, one that the doctor would find hard to say 'no' to, hopefully.

"Get off my ship." Law said in a near blunt tone. "Get off and never come back."

Lucky Roux then moved to pick Ace up off the operating table.

"Hands off."

"Wha?" Roux said as he canted his head to the side.

"You go, he stays."

-End of Prologue-

VTM: Okay, so this chapter had a couple of firsts for me, one being writing Law. I'm not used to the guy, I had to do a bit of research to get some of the details and such. One of the things that really seems to surprise me is that he has a freaking yellow submarine! Queue the Beatle's music! (I seriously had to listen to that song two or three times after writing this.) And this basically cemented that Law is probably a drug addict in my head cannon. (For those who don't get that joke, it's a Beatles thing.) This is going to be the first chapter fic that I've done in quite a while, so I hope you guys enjoy. Comments are greatly appreciated, I look forward to bringing you more.


	2. Chapter 1

**Title:** Maddest Kind Of Love  
><strong>Rating:<strong> PG-13  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> 2804  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> None in particular(in this chapter), perhaps a hint of Ace x Marco if you squint  
><strong>Topic:<strong> none  
><strong>Type:<strong> OPU (before time skip)  
><strong>Genre:<strong> General  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> I don't own anything from One Piece.  
><strong>VTM:<strong> Okay, here is chapter 2! Any warnings? Not really. Enjoy!

-o-o-

Everything was dark, nothing but darkness, empty space, and a freezing cold that robs one of any feeling.

_'This is death...?'_ Ace thought as he looked around. He wanted to see something, anything, this place brought a terrible feeling of loneliness. It was then that a memory flashed in his mind, it was of that bastard, Akainu, goading him into attacking. Ace closed his eyes, that was one thing that he didn't want to see. It was a reminder of just why he died, he foolishly took Akainu's bait. When that bastard tried to go for Luffy on instinct he immediately jumped in the way and took the attack. Ace could remember seeing that devastated look on the kid's face.

The more he thought about it, Ace realized that he basically took everything Luffy had done, everything that he had sacrificed, and basically threw it back in his face. Ace bit his lip and threaded his fingers through his hair. It wasn't just Luffy's work and sacrifices either, but of his crew, the ones that took him in as 'family', everything that everyone had done was all for nothing.

He couldn't help but think about how he let that bastard, Akainu goad him, that moment of giving into his anger, his pride, it was his mortal mistake. What was everyone doing now? Did they make it out okay? What about Luffy? He got away, didn't he? He was safe, right? He had to be! Ace gripped his hair, tugging it slightly. Not knowing what was happening, it was torture, was he going to be stuck here? Unable to see or do anything?

It was then that a light appeared in the distance, it brought a warmth with it that was comforting and inviting. Ace had to hold an arm up to protect his eyes that were still a little sensitive from all the darkness.

_'What is that?'_ Soon Ace found himself walking towards that light, its glow washing over him and pushing his worries to the back of his mind. It was like heading to the end of a long and dreary tunnel. As he got closer he could swear he could see silhouettes of figures, he couldn't make them out, but yet his heart beat quickened. Wait, if he was dead, **should** his heart be beating?  
>Suddenly the light flashed even brighter and surged forward. Florescent lights shined down in Ace's eyes, causing them to ache. He could see faces staring down at him. One figure had what looked like dark liner under his eyes.<p>

"Pass me that..."

The voices of the figures blurred together and almost sounded as though everything was underwater. Ace could feel his head clouding over as the painkillers started to take effect again, the world from the his eyes began to distort and darken as he drifted away.

That warm feeling returned, the light was before him once again. Ace started to head towards it, more eagerly, dizziness and numbed pain hit him now and then, making him nearly lose balance. He each step he took was harder to make, it felt like there were lead weights being tied to her feet.

Again, with a flash and Ace was staring up at that florescent light. He could hear the beeps of a heart monitor and more garbled mumblings of the figures surrounding him. Ace's eyes darted around in near panic, just what the hell was happening to him? Suddenly there was a sharp pain, he heard the heart monitor beep faster and erratically, the figures around him seemed to be panicking. The darkness claimed his consciousness once more.

Ace was once more heading towards that inviting, warm light, he could make out the characters better now. One was of a womanly figure, tall and slender with wavy hair, the other two appeared to be men one dwarfing the other, the shape of his shadow had a familiar crescent shape to it. Ace reached out to them as he was practically in the light now.

...

The sun was high in the sky, shining down on the yellow submarine that was heading towards the island of Amazon Lily in the distance. On the deck of the ship Ace stood, leaning against the rail of the ship, he went out there on instinct after waking up. His head was still a bit cloudy but the fresh sea air was helping him regain his senses. He bit his lip when he felt the numbed pain in his body.

"Should you be up and about like that so soon?" said a voice from behind.

Ace looked over his shoulder, he saw the man he saw before while he was on the operating table. "You..."

"Oh? You remember, huh? You regained consciousness once or twice while I was working on you." Law gave a small smirk and walked over to the rail and stood next to Ace. "This is the last time I play 'good Samaritan'. It's rather boring." he said with a small slightly tired sigh. He didn't want to admit it, but this had been a lot of work, even for him. "You should be resting, Portgas...or should I say, 'Gol'?"

The freckle faced man glared at Law. "Don't you EVER call me that." he said with a deadly tone lacing his voice. However, it was obvious that it was an empty threat, Ace was in no condition to be kill anyone, period. The young man was decorated in bandages, the most located on his upper torso where he had been impaled.

"Easy now, is that anyway to talk to the man that saved your life?" Law said with a smirk. At least he was getting some fun out of this mess. "Not to mention Strawhat's for that matter. You two are close, right? So you should be thanking me."

Ace frowned and looked away from the doctor. "How is Lu anyway? Is he going to be okay?"

"Hmph...So far so good, that's all I can say at this point." Law said as he looked out at the sea. "He's in the recovery room now, he won't be waking up for quite some time." He then stretched his arms out and gave a tired yawn. "Anyway, I did my job...You're alive. What you do is your choice from here. I'm going to go get some rest. You guys are way more trouble than you are worth."

Ace watched as the creepy looking Supernova headed off. He then gave a slightly pained sigh and looked at the seastone cuff around his wrist, it was a precaution, to keep his powers from acting out during or after surgery. He then looked at the bandages on his body, more the ones that were wrapped around his chest. Images played in his mind, him rushing and taking Akainu's attack for Luffy, crumpling on top on the kid, dying in the kid's arms.

It was a miracle that he had been able to survive long enough to be saved by that Law guy. Something kept him holding on, kept him from slipping completely into that cold darkness of death. Ace could have sworn that he saw a woman he believed to be his mother for a brief moment after entering that bright light. He wanted to go to her, he want to be there with her so badly, but she shook her head, and the next thing Ace knew he almost felt a tugging feeling on him, and again everything went into darkness. He woke up in the recovery room, dazed and disoriented. Ace remembered punching out some idiot that tried to force him to stay in bed.

"I got to remember to apologize to that guy later..." he said with a small laugh to no one in particular. However, that smile soon died as bitter realities began to dawn on him. He was not without losses; he not only lost the mark he held so much pride in on his back, but also the man that he called father. All gone, because of his own damned foolishness.

It was then that they noticed a shadow swiftly pass over him. Ace looked up at the sky only catching a glimpse of a pair of glowing golden tails.

"The hell was that?" said one of the heart pirates.

A small smile tugged at Ace's lips, he knew exactly who that was. He then headed for the direction that the flying oddity was heading for, and sure enough after turning a corner there he saw Marco, propped against the wall.

"Yo..." Marco said with a slight smirk. "Shouldn't you be resting?"

"Marco..." Ace couldn't help but smile, right now seeing a friendly face was like a piece of heaven.

"What the hell? First Red Hair's crew, now a giant flying blue chicken?" Law said with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm a phoenix!" Marco shouted as his face went a nice shade of red.

"Like I care!" Law said as he tossed his hands up to the air as he walked away from the two. "We have cannons for a reason people!"

"If that man didn't save you I'd be kicking his ass about now." Marco said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Ace and Marco were alone now, with that came a long and awkward silence. As good as it was to see Marco, there was still the matter of all the trouble he had caused. Ace suddenly felt a little sick to his stomach. Marco's expression was hard to read, he couldn't tell what the phoenix-man was thinking.

"...Do you hate me?"

Marco was quiet for a moment, he soon gave a drawn out sigh. "No, I don't. It wasn't your fault, Ace..."

"Really, Marc? I didn't listen, I got my ass handed to me, I was captured, and now Pops is..." Ace bowed his head slightly and bit his lip. He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. The sickening feel in his stomach became worse, he almost felt like he was going to puke.

Marco was quiet, in truth part of him did want to blame Ace, as much as he cared about him, he cared about Whitebeard even more. The old man was now gone, what was going to happen to them and their crew now? Marco thought back on when they were sailing away from Mainford, people were starting to talk about splitting away from the crew. Marco had to make a few threats to keep them there. It made him feel miserable, the prospect of their 'family' splitting apart and leaving. The truth was, what was left for them at this point? Whitebeard was the glue that held their crew together, with him gone, they really weren't the 'Whitebeard Pirates' anymore. He couldn't help but glance at Ace, the truth was that part of him did blame the D. for this mess, while another part of him wondered what Pop's would say on this matter.

"Marc, you okay?" Ace asked, unwittingly bring Marco back to reality. The Phoenix's quietness made him feel a little uneasy, he had some of the same questions about their crew floating around in his mind.

"We found a nice spot to have the funeral." Marco said suddenly. "It's a spot with a good view of the sea."

"Sounds like something Pops would have liked." Ace said a wary smile. "When are we going?"

"You can't." Marco said in a blunt tone.

"Wait, what?" Ace frowned, it then turned into a look of pained disbelief. "Marc, I have to! Come on!"

"It's your funeral too, Ace." Marco explained.

Ace gave a confused blink. "Wait, what?"

Marco gave a tired sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. "No one knows you're still alive yet. I did because Red Hair told me about it. I came here to check on you."

A laugh forced its way out of Ace's throat, the boy dug his fingers through his hair and combed them through. He looked away from Marco, he looked out to the sea, something he once looked to as a hope for freedom. Now he just felt like he was a prisoner.

Marco reached out and placed a hand on Ace's head, he then gave the boy's hair a light ruffling. "Pops would want you to stay safe. Look at it that way, okay?"

Ace bit his lip and frowned, looking like a pissed off cat.

Marco decided that now would be a good time to change the subject before the argument went any further. "How is that 'little brother' of yours? He was in real bad shape the last time I saw him.

"Oh! I wanted to see him..." It was like distracting a baby with a set of keys, Ace's attention quickly switched. "Come on, we can both pester him. Besides I owe that brat a punch or five for being an idiot."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Marco asked with a blink. However his words fell on deaf ears as Ace made his way toward the hold. Marco shook his head and followed after him.

As they were heading for the recovery room they noticed an odd man walking out and closing the door behind him. He was in the most peculiar and revealing outfit, either made of spandex or some sort of leather. His most noticeable features was his makeup caked face, and blue afro atop his gigantic head.

"Hmm? Oh, it's Ace boy~!" Ivankov said looking surprised. "Mmmfufufufu~! I see that Law-boy really did manage to save you."

Ace stared at Ivankov for a moment with a blank look. "Your head is huge."

BONK!

Ace was now nursing a large bump on his head.

"Sorry, my friend is an idiot." Marco apologized. "I remember you, you were with Ace's brother and those other strange guys."

"Yes, Luffy-boy and the rest of us took on a lot of hardships to get there to rescue Ace-boy." Ivankov said with a hint of pride. "That boy is very much his father's son. He wouldn't even let the threat of death detour him. If it wasn't for me, he very well would have been dead back in Impel Down."

"Thank you for helping my brother." Ace said with a smile. "I'm sorry if he was a lot of trouble..."

"You seem to be just as bad!" the okama gave a laugh.

"Ah, I guess you might be right about that." Ace was trying to hide the discomfort that came with that statement. It brought back the reality of the situation he was now in. "Anyway, thank you again." He then moved for the door of the recovery room.

"Hold it!" Ivankov quickly move in to block his way. "You can't see him!"

Ace gave a confused blink and then frowned. "Why not? I have to thank him...and give him a few punches to beat some sense into that thick skull of his." He then tried to get past Ivankov, but he was blocked again. "Get out of my way!" Ace was starting to get irritated now, if it wasn't for the seastone cuff around his wrist he would have set Ivankov's hair on fire at this point.

Ivankov simply wagged his finger in front of Ace's face. "Ah-ah-ah! I don't think that you get it. That boy is the son of Dragon the revolutionary, as long as I'm on this ship I will not allow any threat to come to him."

Now Ace was getting irritated, he glared at Ivankov. "I'm NOT a threat! I'm his big brother!"

"No, you are the son of the pirate king. The 'dead' son of the pirate king." Ivankov explained. "You are way too dangerous to have around him with the way that you are."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Mmfufufufu...But, I do have a genius idea to fix your little dilemma." There was a look of mischief that on the okama's make-up caked face that Ace did not like. Right then Ivankov showed off his right hand, the finger tips suddenly turned into sharp claw like appendages. Then, without so much as a warning the okama queen lashed out and stabbed Ace right in the forearm.

"O-Ow! What the hell!" Ace tried to back away, but the damage was already done. "What was that for you jacka-" Ace's words stopped when he felt his heart skip a beat. He body suddenly felt like it was getting warmer, but it wasn't like when he would turn into fire. It felt like his blood was rushing, as if his body was suddenly thrust into sudden overdrive, his heart was pounding, and he could feel his muscles involuntarily spasm as something was happening to them. He soon became dizzy from the rushing blood and fell to his knees.

-End of Chapter-

VTM: Long chapter is long. Anyway, hopefully the pacing was decent enough. I can feel the rust in my fingers as I type this out. Again if Law is a little out of character I apologize. Comments are greatly appreciated, thank you for reading this installment.


	3. Chapter 2

**Title:** Maddest Kind Of Love: Chapter 2  
><strong>Rating:<strong> PG-13  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> 2810  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> Possibly hints of Ace/Marco, if you squint. You be the judge.  
><strong>Topic:<strong> none  
><strong>Type:<strong> OPU (before time skip)  
><strong>Genre:<strong> General  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> I don't own anything from One Piece. One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda.  
><strong>VTM:<strong> Here is chapter 2! Enjoy the show!

-o-o-

"Wh-what the hell was that...?" Ace covered his mouth. His voice had gone up a few octaves. His eyes darted around, part of him hoping no one noticed the sudden change in pitch. He noticed that he was being stared at as if he were some alien being that fell from the sky.

Ace's hands nervously started to travel across his body; softer skin, smaller frame, wider hips, a more rounded face, and somewhat lacking mounds on his chest. Ace's hands paused on the small lumps of flesh he fondled them for a moment while his brain tried to process just what the hell happened.

Marco was the first to speak up. "Ace...You're...a chick!."

Indeed, Portgas D. Ace, famed second commander of the Whitebeard pirates was now a woman...And she was **not** happy about it.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!" Ace shouted and she grabbed Ivankov and roughly shook the Okama queen back and forth. "What the hell did you do to me!" Ace then shook Ivankov even more roughly, though some of the newkamas wanted to help their leader, it looked like trying to get the now female D. off of him would be like trying to take on a rabid bear. She then let go of Ivankov and suddenly shoved her hand down her own pants. "What the hell! It's gone! Why is there a crater! And why does it feel good when I touch it?"

Ivankov suddenly shot up and gave Ace a smack to the back of the head, sending his victim face down into the wooden deck of the ship. "YOU DO THAT IN PRIVATE, YOU IDIOT!"

The surrounding pirates could only watch in awe at the spectacle that played out before them. "Turn me back now!" Ace shouted as she started to get back up, once back on her feet she then tried to throw a punch at Ivankov.

"DEATH WINK!" with a wink from her eye, Ivankov sent Ace violently flying across the deck of the ship.

"Hey! Are you trying to kill him?" Marco shouted. He glared at the okama in a near vicious nature. "Just change him back, when the heat from the war dies down we can take Ace and his brother with us. We can keep them safe."

"Oh? Are you so sure about that?" Ivankov said as he turned to face the first commander, there was an ominous look on his face. "Your dear captain is dead, Phoenix-boy, the world itself is now in chaos. The marines may have let you and your crew go this time, but now they will more than likely crack down more heavily than ever on pirates now." As Ivankov spoke she slowly advanced upon Marco, poking the man in the chest. "The death of Whitebeard and the son of the pirate king has given those who believe in the 'great justice' more confidence than ever in their mission. If they find Ace alive, they will do anything to make sure he and most likely any witnesses are dead."

Ace was propped against the railing, she cursed the seastone cuff attached to her wrist. She groaned, she could feel her wounds straining when she tried to move. Ace look up and saw Ivankov heading towards her.

Ivankov stopped just before the D. and looked down at her sternly. "You have two choices Ace-girl, you can go around as you were and put everyone around you at risk. Or you can man up and accept what you are now and have a better chance at staying hidden."

"Go to hell!" Ace shouted defiance. "Turn me back right now!"

"I refuse!" Ivankov said stubbornly. "So rude and selfish! Is this how you want to repay all the effort everyone went through to break out of the Hell that was Impel Down? Do you want all the suffering Luffy-boy went through to go to waste?"

"N-no! Of course not!" Ivankov managed to hit a nerve, Ace knew just what kind of things happened in that place. From the way that Ivankov made it sound, Luffy probably went through terrible things to try to save him. "I just don't want to be a girl! I'm a man!"

"Ah! Yes, you're right, you are a dead man. As in 'Portgas D. Ace' is no longer of this world...and more importantly, no longer an interest to the marines." Ivankov explained. "You get what I am trying to tell you, right?"

Ace nibbled on her lip as she tried to put two and two together. She then gave the okama queen a blank look. "No, not really."

"Honey, you're an idiot." Ivankov said with a sigh, she rubbed her temples as she felt the pains of an oncoming headache. "Either way, I'm not turning you back, so just deal with it. Besides, you look quite good as a woman. Though...you seem to be lacking certain 'assets'." The okama added that last part with a small giggle.

"...'Assets'?" Ace gave a confused blink and canted her head to the side. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm afraid that you're part of the 'itty bitty titty committee', Ace-girl." Ivankov explained with a laugh.

"The 'itty bitty titty committee'?" Ace then looked down at her own lacking chest. At first they seemed just fine to her. She then suddenly heard snickers and looked around, she noticed that some of the 'newkamas' were rather 'well endowed' it was then that Ace felt a small pang of irritation. Was chest size really all that important? Ace then thought back on the times she and her crewmates would compare the sizes of their 'manhood'. "So wait...Small breasts are like..." Ace's eyes widened slightly as it finally donned on her. "Are you serious!"

-o-o-

When things finally calmed down, Ace had gone below deck to rest, her injuries still took a lot out of her. She was now wearing Marco's shirt, with two of the buttons buttoned up, with her now loose fitting black shorts. She wasn't sure why Ivankov and Marco refused to let her walk around without the damned shirt, the bandages covered up everything that needed to be anyway. But she ended up being a little grateful afterwards.

Ace's hand went to her shoulder as she thought about the mark on her back. What was once a mark of pride is now a new source of shame. A permanent reminder of the horrors that occurred in Impel Down, and tragedies that happened on the battlefield at Marineford. All because she had to be the one to bring that bastard, Blackbeard, down for his crimes. Ace bit her lip and tried to push those thoughts in the back of her head for now. Right now she had to try to focus on other things.

It was then that her stomach gurgled loudly. Ace groaned, she then flopped back onto the cot and stared up at the ceiling above her, thinking back on all the hell that broke loose today. She was brought back from the brink of death, was turned into a woman, found out that for now, she has to stay a woman to keep her loved ones safe, and now to top it off, she was hungry. Yeah, this day couldn't possibly get better.

"Yo..." came a voice from the doorway of the room.

Ace sat up and looked, it was Marco. "Hey, Pineapple-Head..."

Marco frowned a little as he made his way over, he stood at the foot of the cot. "Just wanted to make sure everything was okay before I leave."

The D. gave a pout when she heard the word 'leave', it was official, this day royally sucked. Marco was the only thing that brought a sense of peace of mind to her. Given the bizarre chain of events, he was the only thing that seemed sort of 'normal' right now, despite him being a flaming blue chicken. "Can't you just take me with you?"

Marco shook his head. "I told you already that I can't do that. Besides, should you clear up some things with your 'little brother' before you go anywhere? " He pointed out. "Last time I checked, you died in his arms the last time he saw you."

"Don't remind me..." Ace grumbled. An image of Luffy's distraught face appeared in her mind. She then bit her lip, feeling slightly queasy.

Marco gave a sigh. "Sorry, but it is one of those little facts that you can't run away from." He then added thoughtfully. "It seems like you've been running from a lot of things your whole life, huh?"

Ace was quiet for a while, she now had her knees tucked up to her chest and had her arms wrapped around them. "I'm not 'running', dumbass." she said stubbornly.

"You're not fooling anyone." Marco reached out and ruffled Ace's hair. He decided to change the subject so things did not get too uncomfortable. "I'll come back for you, alright? If you want, Luffy's allowed to come too. You two fight really well together."

Ace gave a short, small laugh. She had to admit, it felt good fighting alongside Luffy like that. It reminded her of the good old days back at Carbo Mountain. "We trust each other, we know that if in battle, we have each other's backs."

"I could see that, he'd make a fine addition to Pop's crew." Marco smiled, but it soon faded when things became silent. "We'll talk more about that some other time though, I'm going to head out now..." He turned and took a step towards the door.

"Marco..." Ace said suddenly, making the phoenix man stop in his tracks. "What's the crew going to do now without Pops? Are we going to stay together?" She had been sharing the phoenix man's fears of an uncertain future.

"What kind of question is that?" Marco said with his back facing her. "We're the Whitebeard pirates." It wasn't a real answer, but it was what would have to do for now. In all honesty, Marco wasn't sure what was going to happen either, he was struggling trying to keep them together as it was. "You focus on getting better, okay? I'll come back for you, I promise."

"...Alright." Ace said with a small nod. "I'll get stronger too, you can count on that."

"I know you will, you're a stubborn little bastard." Marco said as he walked out of the room.

And with that Ace was left alone again. She then got off her cot and followed after the first commander. "Marco, wait!" But by the time that she reached the deck of the ship she only caught a glimpse of the phoenix as he flew away.

-o-o-

When the Heart Pirates' ship finally reached the island of Amazon Lily they found themselves in a whole new world of problems. Apparently Luffy had finally woken up not too long after the ship came to a stop and was now going on a rampage in the forests.

Jimbei was standing on the beach of the island, he had been unconscious the whole trip, missing the fiasco that Ivankov had caused before, and was woken up by the sounds of the forest being torn apart. He made his way over to Law, who was seated on a log, he noticed that the doctor seemed to be in his own thoughts. "Law-san, what is happening?"

"The brat woke up." Law said in a blunt tone. "Just stormed out and start going berserk."

Jimbei was quiet for a moment. "I see, I will try to talk to him." He then started to head for the forest.

Law shrugged. "Good idea, tell him he needs to watch those wounds..."

"Uh, Captain?" Bepo said suddenly. "Do either of them know that Strawhat's brother is alive?"

Ah yes, leave it to Bepo to point out the obvious.

The doctor's eyes widened at that little revelation. "...Damn it." Law looked back, he was about to call out to the fishman, but he was already long gone. He got up from his seat on the log and hurried back to the ship , and then immediately headed for the recovery rooms below deck.

"Oi, Jackass!" He called out as he made his way towards Ace's cot. "Wake up!" But all he got was a mumbled response from the D. Law shook his head and rolled his eyes, he then reached out and gave Ace a good hard pinch to the leg.

Ace woke with a start, swinging her leg out and kicking Law in the side. "What the hell?" She looked around the room before her eyes rested on the doctor who was now nursing his side. "What do you want?"

"Damn..." Law said as he gave Ace a half glare. " You're dumbass brother is throwing a damn temper tantrum. He doesn't know your alive yet because he rushed off before anyone could tell him."

"What?" Ace sat up and got off the cot. It was then that she noticed the faint echoes of the forest being smashed up.

"Yeah, it's that bad." Law said with an irritated tone. "If he keeps that up he's going to reopen his damned wounds and bleed to death. Get your ass in gear!"

Law didn't have to say it twice, Ace quickly rushed past the doctor and left the room.

-o-o-

It didn't take too long to find the younger D., Luffy was covered in bandages from head to toe. It was a little surprising, Ace didn't realize the kid's injuries were that extensive. Luffy simply charged through everything back on the battlefield, not giving a damn who or what stood in his way. Now here he was, sobbing, broken, yelling at the world itself.

Ace watched as Luffy continued to tear apart the forest, the kid was in an almost animalistic rage. She had a sickly feeling in her stomach, this reminded her of how she felt when they lost Sabo. Ace never really thought of what Luffy's feelings were when that happened. With his stupid smiles or that big goofy grin normally plastered to his face, it was easy to forget that Luffy was capable of these kinds of emotions and despair.

Ace continued to follow the younger D. at a distance, staying out of the away of any flying trees or debris. She wanted to call out to Luffy, to tell him she was alright, but at this point it didn't seem like he would hear her let alone listen. She would have to wait for the kid to calm down a little first.

Luffy seemed to be starting to run out of steam at this point, his movements were becoming more sluggish. He soon fell to his knees and doubled over, his forehead to the earth, his fists giving weak strikes against the ground. He was tired, just so damned tired.

Ace was about to approach him, but it was then that she noticed that Jimbei had been following Luffy too. She watched as the fishman approached the distraught D. She couldn't quite hear what he was saying to Luffy, but it was soon clear that it didn't seem to help when the boy looked at him with a look of fury.

"You stupid sushi!" Luffy shouted as he found an extra burst of energy, got up, and rushed towards the fishman. He was about to try to hit Jimbei.

Now seemed to be a good of time as any for Ace make her presence known. She quickly scooped up a nearby rock and threw it at the younger D.'s head with as much strength as she could muster.

The rock flew and bounced off Luffy's rubber forehead. The younger D. stopped in his tracks and looked around for the offender.

"Yo!" Ace called, trying her best to disguise her voice. When the younger D. looked up and spotted her she gave her usual cocky smirk.

"A-Ace...? " Luffy stared in awe with wide, teary eyes. Luffy then forced himself up and broke out into a run towards his older brother. But instead of the warm and joyous hug one would expect from a situation like this, Ace was greeted by a punch right to the face. She went down hard, like a sack of potatoes.

"A-Ace-Kun...!" Jimbei said in shock, he hadn't been awake for the fiasco that took place earlier that day. Right now he wasn't so sure just what surprised him more, that face that Ace was there and alive or the fact that Luffy just demolished his own 'brother' with one hit.

Ace was now lying face down in the ground in a crumpled heap, Luffy standing over her. He was panting raggedly at this point, he put all the energy he had into that one punch. "DON'T YOU **EVER** DO THAT AGAIN, YOU DUMBASS!"

-End of Chapter-

VTM: Okay, so I know that there are some of you that are probably disappointed with the route that this chapter took. I'm sorry, but I've been wanting to do this idea for quite a while now. If anything in this chapter seems off, please take note that my brain is still a little sizzled out from my finals. ( OTL Finals...How I hate you... *weeps* ) Anyway, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed, comments and feedback are much appreciated. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can. Don't worry, I'll be back into writing more comedy and some good old fashioned mischief in that one. Till we meet again.


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